


You be the Hands, I'll be the Head.

by TheInverseUniverse



Category: Alex Rider (TV 2020), Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: AR Febuwhump (Alex Rider), Alex Rider Needs a Hug, CW: Medical Gore, Febuwhump Day 17: Field Surgery, Field Surgery, Gen, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:48:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29516952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheInverseUniverse/pseuds/TheInverseUniverse
Summary: The mission was going well. Alex had destroyed the weapon, and MI6 had actually sent K Unit in to extract him in time. But then everything goes to hell and Alex is left with an injured Eagle and Wolf, and only minutes to save a life.
Relationships: Alex Rider & Wolf, Eagle & Alex Rider
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45
Collections: AR Febuwhump 2021





	You be the Hands, I'll be the Head.

**Author's Note:**

> GUYS I FINISHED IT IN TIME TECHNICALLY!
> 
> Apparently people find blood and medical procedures gross. So gross out warning for this. Many thanks to DaniWib for betaing and informing me that Alex should be grossed out by this.

It wasn’t Alex’s worst mission.

As always, the ‘nothing dangerous’ that MI6 had needed him for had gone to shit. The suspicious genetics lab was a bioterrorism plot to unleash a superbug at the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos. This time with an actual ideological group behind it, instead of just a billionaire with a god complex. Well, an ideological group if batshit conspiracies were an ideology.

Once Alex had discovered realized the plot, he’d called for exfiltration. In the meantime, he had set to work lighting fires in each of the cold storage freezers, ensuring all the samples would be denatured, if not destroyed outright. 

That lead him to this moment, running through the darkness next to a flaming laboratory and praying that MI6 had actually sent help.

“Cub!” A deep voice called, and Alex spun around, holding the heavy ring stand he had used to take out three guards.

Wolf and Eagle ran up to him with their guns held at the ready. Eagle raised an eyebrow at Alex’s makeshift weapon. “Going to measure us to death?”

Alex let the stand fall, embarrassed despite himself. They came to a stop beside a propane hutch attached to the building.

“Are you hurt? Any other friendlies?” Wolf demanded, brusque and businesslike as ever.

“I’m fine,” Alex reported. He could hardly believe that The cavalry was here. They never showed up on time. “No one else on our side. I’m pretty sure I destroyed all of the virus they made.”

There was a loud crash above, and sparks rained down as part of the roof fell. The cascade of burning wood barely missed them, landing not two meters from their position.

“We need to move-” Eagle began. Her words were cut off by the _whoompf_ of the fireball that suddenly engulfed the propane tanks. A piece of flaming sheet metal flew at her head and she raised her hands to shield her face as it knocked her to the ground. 

Before Eagle hit the ground, Wolf grabbed Alex and pushed them both to the dirt, shielding the young agent with his body. 

\------

Alex came to slowly, only aware of the heavy weight on his back. His ears were ringing, and a voice came into focus as the world came back to him. He was five meters or so from the lab, and someone was yelling.

“Wolf! Cub!” Eagle shouted. She crouched beside him, and Alex realized that the weight on his back was Wolf. He pushed up, rolling the trooper onto his back as he crawled out from underneath him.

Wolf, who was more or less conscious, grunted in pain as he was moved and mumbled. “Fuck. Watch it.”

Alex got to his knees and pressed a hand to his head. Sticky blood trailed from a cut over his ear and he winced.

“Cub,” Eagle called again, pulling him back to the present.

When Alex refocused, he saw the growing stain on Wolf’s pantleg. He was bleeding, a lot.

“Oh my god.” Alex reached out a hand but hesitated, unsure of what to do. “We have to help him.” Pressure, right? He shuffled closer to Wolf and pressed down on the center of the blood stain, making Wolf shout in pain and slam a fist into the grass. Hot blood pulsed out around Alex’s fingers, contrasting with the cold night air.

“Working on it,” Eagle gritted out. She was fumbling with the zipper on her pack, but her fingers kept slipping off and her face was wracked with pain. When Alex saw her hands, his stomach dropped. They were red and blistered with livid burns.

“Your hands,” Alex said dumbly. He felt like there was a sheet of taffeta between him and the world, making everything hazy and distant.

Eagle tried to open her bag once again, and after she failed to grasp the zipper, threw the pack at Alex. It bounced off his chest and landed at his knees. “Congratulations. You’ve been field promoted to medic.”

Medic? His only first aide training was the CPR that Ian had taught him, and his cuts and scrapes that Jack had talked him through cleaning up. “I don't know how,” Alex stammered.

“I’ll talk you through it,” Eagle promised. She went around to Wolf’s other side and looked at Alex seriously. “But you have to be my hands, okay? Can you do this?”

Could he? What choice did he have? He nodded mutely.

Wolf groaned and raised his face towards Eagle. “Cub’s patching me up? Damn, I am going to die.”

Alex’s wide eyes shot to Eagle. Even Wolf thought this was a bad idea.

“Don’t panic him unless you do want to die,” she scolded, and Wolf just laid his head back against the grass.

“Is he going to die?” Alex asked through the band of terror squeezing his chest.

Eagle looked him in the eye again. “No. Just do as I say.”

Alex nodded and took a shaky breath. He could do this. He had to.

“We have to find the source of the bleeding,” Eagle explained brusquely. “Open my pack and find the scissors, then cut open his pant leg.”

“O-okay.” Alex let go of Wolf’s leg and wiped his blood soaked hands on the grass before unzipping the bag. It was full of and complicated implements. He spotted the blunt tipped scissors and pulled them free, trying to steady his shaking hands.

“Cut up the side,” she ordered.

The scissors had a rounded tip and an odd ledge on the side, but they cut through the thick fabric of Wolf’s uniform with surprising ease. Once it was open, he pulled the cotton aside and revealed the jagged hole in Wolf’s leg. It was an inch and a half across, and the dark blood pulsing out disguised it’s depth. The bloody torrent showed no signs of slowing.

“Fuck,” Eagle said under her breath, making Alex whip his head around to her. “Stay calm,” she ordered, and Alex didn’t know how. 

“He’s bleeding a lot,” he pointed out, as if that wasn’t obvious.

“I see that,” Eagle bit. “Less talking, more doing as I say. In the side pocket of the bag, there should be what looks like a giant syringe full of pellets. Get that out.”

Alex found the pocket on the side of the bag and dug through until he found what she described. It was bullet shaped and about six inches long, and full of blue and white pellets that looked like cotton pills. “I got it.”

“Pull back the handle until it locks into place, then you’re going to put it into the wound cavity and depress it,” Eagle ordered.

“Into?!” Alex cried, looking at the large device and the gaping hole in Wolf’s leg.

“Into,” Eagle repeated. “The sponged will expand and stop the bleeding. Do it!”

Alex nodded and pulled back the handle, which came out on a thin metal rod and locked into place. He swallowed and tried to ignore the reality. It was just injecting a syringe. Easy.

He wiped the blood from Wolf’s leg to see better, but more replaced it before he was even done.

“Alex,” Eagle prompted. Her patience was waning.

Wincing in sympathy and cringing in disgust, he pushed the rubber tip into the opening in Wolf’s leg. The trooper shouted through his teeth and Alex babbled a useless apology. As he pushed down on the plunger, his blood soaked, shaking hands fumbled, letting the tip slip out of the wound. As the pellets were forced out of the device, only a small fraction made it into the bloody cavity. Most spilled uselessly onto the grass below.

He tried to get the last few in, but barely made a dent. The blood slowed slightly but continued to pour out around the now expanded sponge pellets.

“Ah shit,” Eagle said, making Alex’s stomach drop. Did he just kill Wolf?

“I’m sorry, I-”

“You’re not trained,” Eagle said, cutting off his pleading apologies. “Apply pressure, see if it worked.”

Alex pressed down on the Wolf’s leg again, trying to ignore his sounds of pain. “Can we give him anythi-”

“Pain won’t kill him. Delaying will,” Eagle said gruffly and Alex nodded. Blood still seeped around his fingers.

“It’s not stopping,” he said desperately. “I can’t stop the bleeding.” If he couldn’t--

“Yes, you can,” Eagle insisted. How she sounded so calm was a mystery. She was focused and stern despite the pressure and pain. “You’re going to get the black tourniquet out of the bag and apply it. It looks like winch straps.”

Alex nodded and went back into the pack. He was getting blood on the pristine packaging of the medical supplies. After a minute of frantic searching, he found the black strap and presented it to Eagle.

“What do I do?”

“Buckle it around his thigh, two to three inches above the wound,” she commanded.

“Uh.” Alex hesitated before lifting Wolf’ leg with one hand while sliding the strap under with the other. Wolf sucked in a breath as he was jostled and Alex said, “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Wolf mumbled. He was only half conscious.

“Stay with me, boss,” Eagle said, trying to draw his attention and keep him awake.

Alex clicked the buckle shut, leaving the strap loosely fashioned a couple inches above the still bleeding wound.

“Pull the strap tight,” Eagle ordered, and Alex complied. Pulling the strap got it tight enough to sit snugly against the skin, but not enough to stop the bleeding.

“He’s still-”

“I know,” Eagle said. “Now you see that little stick? You’re going to twist it to tighten the winch until he stops bleeding. It’s going to hurt him. If he isn’t screaming, it’s not tight enough.”

Alex swallowed and nodded. He fumbled with the bar for a moment before getting it going. He twisted and it pulled the strap tighter, continuing until it became difficult and Wolf was breathing harshly.

“Tighter,” Eagle barked.

He twisted it further and Wolf screamed through his teeth. Alex cringed and blocked it out as he kept winding.

“Stop,” Eagle ordered, and Alex stopped turning the lever. “Tuck it into the plastic bracket.” 

Fighting against the tension in the fabric, Alex tucked the bar into the bracket. It tried to untwist, but its own tension locked it into place.

Wolf was breathing harshly but not screaming anymore. The bleeding on his leg had finally stopped.

“Good job,” Eagle said, and Alex slumped in relief. He did it.

“Wolf? You still with us boss?” Eagle asked. He nodded weakly, but his eyes were half shut. She looked to Alex and said, “Take his pulse. On his wrist.”

Alex jolted back to action and grabbed Wolf’s arm. He pressed his fingers against his wrist and frowned when he couldn’t feel anything.

“Is it thready?” Eagle asked.

“I don't know what that means,” Alex said desperately. “I can’t find it!”

“Press harder,” Eagle ordered. Alex did, and could very faintly make out a fluttering heartbeat.

“It’s fast and I can barely feel it,” he reported. “That’s bad right?”

Eagle nodded. “He’s going into shock. We need to increase his blood volume.” 

“Do you have blood?” Alex asked. He hadn’t seen any in the bag. “I don’t know how to do an IV.”

Eagle shook her head. “We don’t need blood. Just saline. And you’re not going to put in an IV, you’re going to go through his bone.”

“Through his bone?!” Alex stared at Eagle in wide-eyed horror. “I can’t do that!”

“Yes you can,” Eagle insisted, brooking no argument. “It’s easy. There’s a tool and you’re going into his sternum, okay? All you have to do is follow my instructions.”

Wolf was fading in and out, closing his eyes and then forcing them open again, fighting to stay awake. He needed help.

“Okay,” Alex whispered.

Eagle smiled as reassuringly as she could. “It’s called an intraosseous line. You’re going to push a needle into his sternum, then put saline through. It’ll increase his blood pressure and keep him alive until help comes, okay?”

“O-okay,” Alex said again. The idea of forcing a needle through bone made his stomach rebel, but he pushed his reactions down. He had to do this.

She talked him through each step as he found the device and got it ready. It was something called the FAST1, and it looked like a torture device inspired by a lamprey. There was a horribly thick needle surrounded by a dozen spikes that stuck out of a four-inch red handle.

“I’m supposed to put this in him?” Alex stared at the spikes in horror. “Can’t we just, like, stick a needle in his arm?” 

“Sure, we’ll tell Wolf to stop going into shock long enough for you to pass an anatomy course and learn how to find and enter a vein that’s been deflated by blood loss,” Eagle bit out, her stress and pain showing. “This is the best way. All you have to do is set it up and push it in.” When Alex hesitated again she said, “Don’t focus on anything past the next step. Do as I say. You’re the hands, let me be the head.”

One step at a time, Alex followed Eagles instructions. He pushed where the needle would wind up from his mind and focused on unwrapping, assembling, and priming the guide sticker and tubing. He fumbled the syringe and spilled saline on the ground, but Eagle just repeated her instructions and he managed to get everything primed. Every wasted second was one that he could see Wolf slipping away in.

Under her sharp eye, he cut open Wolf’s shirt, revealing his sweat soaked chest as it rapidly rose and fell. He had to line up the sticker three times before she was pleased with his positioning and let him stick it to his chest.

Now came the hard part.

“Hold the Fast1 up to the hole in the sticker, perpendicular to his chest.”

Alex lined the device up with Wolf’s chest, and the sharp spikes rested on his skin, only a hair’s breathe from puncturing it. He stared them and swallowed down his fear.

“Cub,” Eagle caught his eye. “You’re going to lock your elbows and steadily push straight down with your upper body. Like CPR. You’ll feel the bone give away, but don’t flinch back. Okay? You can do this. Deep breath for courage, try to insert it at the same time he’s inhaling.”

Alex took a deep breath and locked his elbows. He could do this. Push down, don’t flinch. He could do this.

Wolf took in a shaky breath in, and Alex pushed down. The spike and needle sunk into Wolf’s skin easily, then briefly met resistance. The bone gave way with a crunch, and Alex gagged as the needle locked into position. He let go and turned around to retch, but nothing came up.

“Cub,” Eagle called. “Focus. Slowly pull the introducer out and hook up the tubing.”

Taking a deep breathe, Alex turned back to Wolf. The trooper had winced slightly when it went in, but judging by their reactions, one would think Alex was the one with a needle in his bone. But the hardest part was done. Alex slowly pulled the red handle and spike back out, leaving the needle and attached two inches of tubing in place. The grinding of the spikes against bone made him cringe, but he backed it out and only a small amount of blood welled up on Wolf’s chest.

The tubing on the needle attached to the tubing on the sticker, then Alex had to use a syringe to pull bone marrow up into the tubing. Blood didn’t normally affect him, but the idea that he was pulling this thick red liquid from inside Wolf’s bone made him sick to his stomach. Next was to shoot saline back through, which also made him cringe.

Once he attached the stopcock and sat back on his heels, Eagle said, “Good job. That was the hard part. Now you just have to hook up the saline.”

This was blessedly easy by comparison. Alex pulled the bag from the pack, hooked up the tubing, and then squeezed to prime it. Once the saline was flowing, he lifted the bag above Wolf and watched it slowly drain.

As it emptied, Wolf’s breathing evened out and his pale skin took on more color. After a few tense minutes his eyes finally opened, and he made eye contact with Eagle.

“Back with us?” Eagle asked, and Wolf grunted in displeasure.

Alex sagged in relief and almost dropped the bag. Wolf was alive, not only alive, but better than he had been five minutes ago. Alex had done it. He didn’t know how, but he had.

“Try not to move,” Eagle instructed. “Fox and Snake should find us soon.”

And speak of the devil, two lights cut across the darkness only a few minutes later. Fox and Snake ran over and took in the situation.

“Wolf is stabilized but needs emergency evacuation,” Eagle reported. “Severe blood loss and stage one or two shock, tourniquet and sternal IO. My hands are burnt, Cub has a head injury.”

Snake looked down at Wolf and back at Eagle’s hands. “You did all this with your hands like that? That’s hard as nails.”

Eagles shook her head and nodded at Alex. “Not me. Cub did it.”

Fox whistled appreciatively. “Nice work, kid. We’ve got it from here.”

Alex nodded shakily, his exhaustion running bone deep. 

Fox and Snake assembled a gurney and rolled Wolf onto it. As they lifted him, the injured trooper nodded at Alex and said, “Nice work, kid. You saved my life.”

Alex smiled back weakly. “I guess so.” He helped Eagle to her feet and they set off towards safety. The mission wasn’t his worst, but it’d still be cold day in hell he’d consider it his best.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks! This is only accurate enough to be dangerous, all my medical training is in home health and protest medicine.
> 
> Fun fact: fluids administered intraosseously into the sternum reach the heart faster than those put through a vein in the arm. Also you don't have to worry about missing a vein.


End file.
